Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Increases Stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,464 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $3,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Taika Capital LP purchased a new position in MarketAxess in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,689,000. Dundas Partners LLP grew its stake in MarketAxess by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 2,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in MarketAxess by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 205,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,042,000 after purchasing an additional 83,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in MarketAxess by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MKTX. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $251.00 to $225.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MarketAxess from $330.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $265.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $256.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.78.

MarketAxess Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $212.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.84 and a twelve month high of $296.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $208.13 and a 200 day moving average of $241.30.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.23% and a net margin of 33.56%. On average, research analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from MarketAxess’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is 41.82%.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.